Post by Toryn on Aug 30, 2016 19:29:21 GMT -5
This was my first Lockn'. We were originally drawn to attend because of Phish, but we did look forward to many of the other groups, as well as the festival in general. I attended with my husband Frank, and we were doing GA Car Camping.
Thursday we set up our camp, met our awesome neighbors, and basically stayed under the shade of the EZUp talking until the sun went down and it was bearable to move around. Then Frank & I took a long walk, explored the camping area, checked out vendors, went to the show field. We decided to call it an early night. We lay in our tent, listening to Ween. I was so hot and miserable, and wondered how I would survive for 4 days. Then we had a run-in with the nitrous dealers who were running their tanks outside our tent and in our campsite. We ended up packing up our camp at 1:30 AM and driving out. We were driving by the Blue Ridge Bowl during JRAD's "Truckin." I was disappointed to be missing it, but that was the least of my concerns at that point. We had no plan, and didn't know where we'd go. All the hotels in reasonable commuting distance would have to be full. We left Lockn' and headed south on 29. If we didn't find a place to stay, we would go home. I pulled up Google Maps to find hotels. I called the first one on the list, asked if they had any rooms at all for that night and next 3 nights. He said he had one room, and I said we'd be right there. I checked in wearing my pajamas. We got to our room, I took a shower (yay!), and we went to bed.
Friday, we returned to Lockn' and the first thing we needed to do was get a day parking pass. We went to the ticket office, explained the situation from camping, and they were kind enough to refund our camping pass, and issue a day parking pass. We were now officially day trippers! Then we attended the Lockn board forum, got to meet some of you, and did the group photo. But the heat was already starting to get to me! We then had another meetup at 1, which we started walking to, but due to my map reading fail, we didn't make it. Instead we went to the show field. By that point we were already overheated and dehydrated. My husband's first instinct was just to leave and come back at night for Phish. For me, walking back to day parking was simply NOT an option. I couldn't have made it. I said let's just sit down, get some water and rest. We found some shaded space in one of those Dr Seuss-looking shade structures, put our seats down, and went to fill our water bottles. I got in the water line, and Frank went to buy a sweet tea from the biscuit vendor. He came back saying his wristband wouldn't work for the payment (he had used it the night before). He took my place in the water line, and I went to try to buy something, and mine didn't work either. I had some cash, so I just paid for the drinks, and we sat down in our chairs to listen to music and drink. Later we walked back to wristband resolution desk at the security checkpoint, and it turns out that somehow in the transaction of refunding the camping pass, it unlinked the credit card from our wristbands. So, new wristbands were issued, we had to go to the kiosks to re-link the credit card, and then we were all set. We spent the rest of the day staying in the shade, drinking water, and moving as little as possible. We enjoyed all the performers, and successfully conserved our energy enough to jam out to Phish. Unfortunately, we did not stick around for JRAD. I will definitely have to see them sometime soon.
Saturday we woke up, and Frank did not want to go back and sit in the heat again all day, but I convinced him to go. We got to Keller Williams and found that one little patch of shade way at the back, down the hill. We enjoyed him a lot. After his set was the Feline Freaks meet-up, a FB group for cat lovers and Phish fans! Then it was back to to show field to make sure we could get a spot under the Dr. Seuss thing, which we did. Another great day of music, although we hadn't heard about the schedule changes/Brandi Carlile's cancellation, so I was really confused about why the set times were all off. Eventually someone told us. My favorite part of the day was when Susan & Derek came out for Sugaree with Phil & Friends.
By Sunday, we had the daytripper routine down to a science. We again got there in time for Keller, again sat in the same little shady corner, and then went directly for the Dr Seuss shade. This day was definitely less hot, and the first day I wasn't severely hydrated! I even got to break the "no dancing during the daytime" rule for The Wailers. I mean, how can you not Get Up, Stand Up? It's in the title! But otherwise just sat and listened to all the daytime acts. Then let loose for Phish, which went by so quickly. I was really sad when they finished and we made our final walk back to day parking.
So, overall, I had a great time. I am so thankful we found a room a half-hour away, and didn't have to go home and miss everything. In the long run, I think I was better off at the motel sleeping with the A/C on and taking 2 showers a day! Really, the biggest problem was the heat. It was brutal. Fortunately, we came prepared with a few items that definitely made things more bearable, such as battery operated personal fans, water bottles with misting buttons, and wet wipes for cleaning up. I wish I'd been able to get up and dance for some of the early acts, like Twiddle. But there were some other secondary affects of the heat- I wasn't feeling very social most of the time (plus we were also missing out on the social aspect of camping), I didn't really walk around to check out Participation Row or any of the other things, and I didn't get to try many of the local food vendors. When it's that hot, I just don't want to eat. But I had a few things, and that cucumber-tomato salad at Sticks (the kabob place) was the exact thing I needed.
I am definitely interested in coming back to Lockn' again next year. We would probably stay off-site (I checked and the place we stayed is already booked up for the last weekend of August 2017). I feel like there was a lot I missed out on, and hopefully the weather will be more conducive to more than just survival mode during the daylight hours. And if the weather is the same as it was this year, well, at least I know I survived it once and can do it again!
Thursday we set up our camp, met our awesome neighbors, and basically stayed under the shade of the EZUp talking until the sun went down and it was bearable to move around. Then Frank & I took a long walk, explored the camping area, checked out vendors, went to the show field. We decided to call it an early night. We lay in our tent, listening to Ween. I was so hot and miserable, and wondered how I would survive for 4 days. Then we had a run-in with the nitrous dealers who were running their tanks outside our tent and in our campsite. We ended up packing up our camp at 1:30 AM and driving out. We were driving by the Blue Ridge Bowl during JRAD's "Truckin." I was disappointed to be missing it, but that was the least of my concerns at that point. We had no plan, and didn't know where we'd go. All the hotels in reasonable commuting distance would have to be full. We left Lockn' and headed south on 29. If we didn't find a place to stay, we would go home. I pulled up Google Maps to find hotels. I called the first one on the list, asked if they had any rooms at all for that night and next 3 nights. He said he had one room, and I said we'd be right there. I checked in wearing my pajamas. We got to our room, I took a shower (yay!), and we went to bed.
Friday, we returned to Lockn' and the first thing we needed to do was get a day parking pass. We went to the ticket office, explained the situation from camping, and they were kind enough to refund our camping pass, and issue a day parking pass. We were now officially day trippers! Then we attended the Lockn board forum, got to meet some of you, and did the group photo. But the heat was already starting to get to me! We then had another meetup at 1, which we started walking to, but due to my map reading fail, we didn't make it. Instead we went to the show field. By that point we were already overheated and dehydrated. My husband's first instinct was just to leave and come back at night for Phish. For me, walking back to day parking was simply NOT an option. I couldn't have made it. I said let's just sit down, get some water and rest. We found some shaded space in one of those Dr Seuss-looking shade structures, put our seats down, and went to fill our water bottles. I got in the water line, and Frank went to buy a sweet tea from the biscuit vendor. He came back saying his wristband wouldn't work for the payment (he had used it the night before). He took my place in the water line, and I went to try to buy something, and mine didn't work either. I had some cash, so I just paid for the drinks, and we sat down in our chairs to listen to music and drink. Later we walked back to wristband resolution desk at the security checkpoint, and it turns out that somehow in the transaction of refunding the camping pass, it unlinked the credit card from our wristbands. So, new wristbands were issued, we had to go to the kiosks to re-link the credit card, and then we were all set. We spent the rest of the day staying in the shade, drinking water, and moving as little as possible. We enjoyed all the performers, and successfully conserved our energy enough to jam out to Phish. Unfortunately, we did not stick around for JRAD. I will definitely have to see them sometime soon.
Saturday we woke up, and Frank did not want to go back and sit in the heat again all day, but I convinced him to go. We got to Keller Williams and found that one little patch of shade way at the back, down the hill. We enjoyed him a lot. After his set was the Feline Freaks meet-up, a FB group for cat lovers and Phish fans! Then it was back to to show field to make sure we could get a spot under the Dr. Seuss thing, which we did. Another great day of music, although we hadn't heard about the schedule changes/Brandi Carlile's cancellation, so I was really confused about why the set times were all off. Eventually someone told us. My favorite part of the day was when Susan & Derek came out for Sugaree with Phil & Friends.
By Sunday, we had the daytripper routine down to a science. We again got there in time for Keller, again sat in the same little shady corner, and then went directly for the Dr Seuss shade. This day was definitely less hot, and the first day I wasn't severely hydrated! I even got to break the "no dancing during the daytime" rule for The Wailers. I mean, how can you not Get Up, Stand Up? It's in the title! But otherwise just sat and listened to all the daytime acts. Then let loose for Phish, which went by so quickly. I was really sad when they finished and we made our final walk back to day parking.
So, overall, I had a great time. I am so thankful we found a room a half-hour away, and didn't have to go home and miss everything. In the long run, I think I was better off at the motel sleeping with the A/C on and taking 2 showers a day! Really, the biggest problem was the heat. It was brutal. Fortunately, we came prepared with a few items that definitely made things more bearable, such as battery operated personal fans, water bottles with misting buttons, and wet wipes for cleaning up. I wish I'd been able to get up and dance for some of the early acts, like Twiddle. But there were some other secondary affects of the heat- I wasn't feeling very social most of the time (plus we were also missing out on the social aspect of camping), I didn't really walk around to check out Participation Row or any of the other things, and I didn't get to try many of the local food vendors. When it's that hot, I just don't want to eat. But I had a few things, and that cucumber-tomato salad at Sticks (the kabob place) was the exact thing I needed.
I am definitely interested in coming back to Lockn' again next year. We would probably stay off-site (I checked and the place we stayed is already booked up for the last weekend of August 2017). I feel like there was a lot I missed out on, and hopefully the weather will be more conducive to more than just survival mode during the daylight hours. And if the weather is the same as it was this year, well, at least I know I survived it once and can do it again!
